Page 76

You held steady, he went on, ignoring me. You are used to excelling, to receiving the best marks. To earning your teachers’ praise.

I sensed him watching me. The strange mental weight of his attention pressing against my skin. My cheeks warmed selfconsciously. Yes, I suppose that’s true.

You will have to earn your admiration from me, he chided, almost teasingly.

I’ll work hard to do so then, Professor Nyxaris, I teased back.

What was this? Was I really bantering with a dragon?

You’re my rider. Not simply because your life was spared thanks to me.

No one could ever accuse Nyxaris of having low selfesteem; he was rather full of himself, and yet it wasn’t intolerable. If anyone had earned the right to an ego, it was a dragon.

You remind me of someone I lost. The words were said almost reluctantly.

I blinked hard. Who?

No one you need worry about, he said gruffly. She is long dead. You are not her.

There was a pain in my chest. Do you … wish I were?

No, Nyxaris snapped, his voice like a breaking stone. No. I do not. He hesitated, then spoke again. You are different. Calmer, quieter. But there is fire in you.

My breath caught. Was this a compliment? It felt like one.

Do not let anyone put that flame out. Let it blaze within your heart. And then he was gone.

Medra touched my shoulder lightly. “Are you back?”

I nodded. “I’m back.”

“What was that?” she breathed. “Was he talking to you?”

“Yes. Apparently, he couldn’t stay away.” I should have been annoyed that he’d interrupted yet again, but oddly I wasn’t.

“You look … happy,” Medra ventured. “Does talking to him feel right?”

I looked at her. “It didn’t at first. But it does now. Is that strange?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. I’ve never been bonded to a dragon. Our connection was different than this. Remember at the beginning? Nyxaris would only talk to me because he hoped I’d be able to get him information.”

There was a knock at the door. We looked at each other.

“I wasn’t expecting Blake,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean he hasn’t decided to just show up.”

“He can come into the Avari Tower?”

“Well, no, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t sneak in anyways. He usually waits until it’s night, though.”

I stared at Medra. Of course she’d had company while I was away. She must have been lonely. Now here I was, disrupting her new routine. “I can leave,” I offered. “I can go to the library, start working on my next essay for—”

“No,” she interrupted. “Absolutely not. Not another essay. You probably have five on the go already.”

I blushed. She wasn’t far off. “Six, actually.”

She laughed. “I’ll tell him to go away.” She smiled mischievously. “It’ll be fun to say no. He needs to hear it now and then.”

I smiled as she hopped off the bed. But when she pulled the door open, it wasn’t Blake standing there after all, but Kage.